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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Title VI 50th Anniversary Conference

Title VI of the Higher Education Act is congressional authority intended to encourage and promote international programs, foreign language acquisition, and cultural exchange at institutions of higher learning in the United States. If you have an international program at your institution, chances are some or all of its public funding comes from this piece of legislation. The ACMS is a recipient of Title VI funds through the US Department of Education. Every four years the ACMS competes with other centers around the world for a grant to cover core administrative funds through the American Overseas Research Centers (AORC) program. The ACMS was selected for funding in 2002 which allowed for the Center in Ulaanbaatar to be opened in 2004, and it was selected again in 2006 which has allowed the center to begin expanding its programs.

Title VI covers the Fulbright-Hays program which is most familiar to people for its Fulbright Fellowship. However, Fulbright-Hays covers numerous international programs which include overseas seminars, lectureships, and foreign language learning. The ACMS will host its first Fulbright-Hays seminar abroad in the summer of 2009. This seminar will bring sixteen k-12 educators to Mongolia for three weeks to learn about life in the country.

As a recipient of Title VI funding, the ACMS will also participate in the 50th anniversary conference celebrating Title VI programs. The conference is scheduled for March 19-21, 2009 in Washington, DC. Title VI is an extremely important part of the US educational system, and it is good to know that effort is being made to mark the 50th year of its existence. For more information about the conference visit http://titlevi50th.msu.edu/.